GQ's Morning Menswear News Briefing 08.04.16

Days after confirming that Anthony Vaccarello is to replace Hedi Slimane at Saint Laurent, the Parisian fashion house has deleted every photo on its Instagram profile. Following this the brand uploaded an image of Vaccarello captioned with "ANTHONY VACCARELLO APPOINTED AS CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF THE MAISON YVES SAINT LAURENT #ANTHONYVACCARELLO #YSL #SAINTLAURENT".

ASOS launched in China just three years ago, but already it is bringing operations to a halt. Initially begun back in 2013, the local service over in China cost £9 million - £3 million more than expected. Three years on and the online retailer has seen a slump in sales as it struggled to win over Chinese consumers. Instead of a local service, Chinese shoppers will still have access to the international online store. Nick Beighton, who took over from co-founder Nick Robertson as chief executive last year, has said that "we’ll continue to do business in China. We are simply serving our growing customer base there in a more efficient, less costly manner."

Moss Bros opens up its first store outside the UK (via The Guardian)

British retailer Moss Bros is to open up its first proper store outside the United Kingdom later this month. The store will be in Dubai, a further expansion on the high street label's venture into Asia - they have held a concession within House of Fraser in Abu Dhabi. Brian Brick, chief executive of Moss Bros says "we see international expansion as an opportunity for the business. We are exploring the Middle East and this will be a trial run, if it goes well we will look into opening further stores." This comes off the back of strong sales which saw a rise of 8.2 percent to £119m over the year ending January 30, helped by a 36 percent rise in online sales.

Aidan Shields, Primark CFO, has departed after six years in his role at the high street label. Shields had previously been at Gap and KPMG in the US, so it is interesting to see where he is heading next. This comes as Primark sees another year of successful trade and further expansion in USA, meaning they now have more than 300 stores worldwide.

H&M will open its 4,000th store this year in Delhi, India, which is a huge increase from 2,200 stores in 2010. CEO Karl-Johan Persson has said "I think we will go to 7,000, 8,000 stores plus and beyond." Despite a fall in pre-tax quarter profits, H&M will open 425 stores this fiscal year, expanding into new territory, such as New Zealand, Cyprus, and Puerto Rico.